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American Muslims Preparing a Quilt To Remember September 11
LOS
ANGELES, August 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Muslim
Public Affairs Council (MPAC) in the U.S. is sponsoring a quilt-making
project in memorandum of the victims of September 11, a press release
from the organization said.
Volunteers from the Muslim community will be sewing together quilt
pieces with the names of the victims of September 11 inscribed upon
them. The quilt will be presented on September 11, 2002, at
Ground Zero, the statement said adding that scores of Muslims have
volunteered to work on the project to express their Muslim community's
condolences over last year's tragedy.
The first presentation of the completed quilt will be at the Islamic
Center of Southern California on September 8, 2002, during MPAC's
community recognition awards, which will honor various elected
officials and community leaders for their exemplary efforts after
September 11, said the release.
On
it’s site MPAC commented on
remember the September 11 attacks and said that “it was the most
painful event ever experienced in the modern history of our nation.”
“We
will never forget the victims, nor will we diminish our resolve to
work in full partnership to protect our country together with all who
cherish and appreciate freedom, decency and the value of human
life,” the organization said.
It said that Muslims should memorialize the victims by keeping their
souls and their families in their prayers and that they condemn the
outrage of loss of human life and will continue to highlight the
Islamic teachings that honor human life, preaches peace and harmony
within the human family, and stand upright for freedom of religion and
dignity of all human beings.
”We consider ourselves partners with law enforcement, interfaith
groups and civil society groups to keep our country safe and the
rights of all citizens protected. Extremism is an aberration in all
religious groups, as it leads to the exploitation of religion and to
self-destruction,” it said.
MPAC said that in Islam the concept of Jihad is broad and noble
concept to reconcile life to the spiritual model.
“It
starts within ones self for purification, extends to intellectual
endeavors of productive discourse using wisdom, kindness and
preaching, to spending resources equitably and justly way to help the
disadvantaged, to fighting as a last and hated resort against
oppressors who use force to compel people to leave their religion or
drive them out of their homes,” it said.
It
also said that the “practices of so-called Muslim governments do not
represent Islam, they represent dictatorship” and that “the
guidance of Islam on governments is the same as the principles and
mechanics that govern democracy.”
MPAC, according to their website, was founded in 1988 as a non-profit
social welfare organization. It is a public service agency working for
the civil rights of American Muslims, for the integration of Islam
into American pluralism, and for a positive, constructive relationship
between American Muslims and their representatives.
Another
Muslim organization, the Washington based Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) published a report last week saying that nearly 57
percent of American Muslims polled by them, say they have experienced
bias or discrimination since the deadly September 11 attacks and 87
percent say know of a fellow Muslim who experienced discrimination.
On
the other hand the poll said that more than three-in-four American
Muslims (79 percent) also experienced kindness or support from friends
or colleagues of other faiths.
That
kindness often took the form of verbal reassurances, support during
the anti-Muslim backlash following the attacks and even offers to help
guard local mosques, said the report published Wednesday, August 21,
on CAIR’s website.
The
most frequent forms of bias experienced by the respondents were verbal
abuse, religious or ethnic profiling and workplace discrimination.
The
poll also showed 48 percent of the respondents saying that their lives
changed for the worse in the year following the attacks and the 16
percent who said their lives changed for the better often cited a
deepened knowledge of Islam made necessary by requests to explain
their faith to others.
The
report said that nearly 67 percent of respondents said the media have
grown more biased against Islam and Muslims and 45 percent of
respondents said that Fox was the most biased and that PBS, BBC and
ABC were worthy of praise for their coverage.
There
are an estimated seven million Muslims in America and some 1.2 billion
worldwide. Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in America.
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